


Glasgow

by Fabrisse



Series: Rebuilding the Table [16]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 03:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3676317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Eggsy has a mission in Scotland, Merlin takes him to Glasgow to meet his mother.</p><p>It's not the best visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glasgow

**Author's Note:**

> This really is just a bit of a character study.

Eggsy wasn't sure what the next day's headlines were going to be, but he was positive they wouldn't mention a threat against the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. He'd found the bomb, disarmed it, disarmed the bombers, and left discreetly before the police came in to arrest the perpetrators. 

Merlin signaled him before calling on the secure phone they maintained. "Arthur has approved my taking a long weekend."

"Sounds good. I 'magine we could get up to all sorts of things."

"Would you be willing to stay in Scotland? I could meet you at Waverly this evening, and we could go to Glasgow for the rest of the time."

Eggsy stopped and asked, "You wanting to introduce me to your Mum?"

"Yes. I think it's time, unless you have something pressing in London this weekend."

"No. Arthur's okay with my filing my report from here?"

Merlin said, "Yes. I already asked him."

"When and where do I meet you?"

There was a pause. "I've booked us a suite at the Balmoral for tonight. My train gets in at 6:30. Meet you in the lobby at 7?"

"I look forward to it, Merlin."

***  
Eggsy was waiting in the lobby with a glass of scotch at his elbow when Merlin arrived. He handed Merlin a room key and had a second glass of single malt waiting before he returned.

"A 21 year old Lagavulin. You're getting better."

"Thank you, love. So, I checked. Glasgow's what? Forty-five minutes away? Why are we staying in Edinburgh tonight?"

Merlin sipped his whisky. "I needed space before seeing my mother."

"She's that terrifying?"

"We could meet her three days from now, and she'd be able to tell you how much whisky was in this glass."

"Teetotal?"

Merlin nodded. "She knows I'm not, but she doesn't approve."

"So you drink in Edinburgh, but not Glasgow."

Merlin said, "Not quite, but…"

Eggsy laughed fondly. "Anything else I need to know."

"I want to meet Mam on my own tomorrow before introducing you."

There was a pause and Merlin could practically see his lover putting together the pieces. 

"Did she never meet Harry?"

Merlin shrugged. "Once in London very briefly. I suppose the best way to put it is: she might know, but I've never told her."

Eggsy nodded to himself. "Do you want to tell her?"

"That's a complicated question, and one I'd rather answer over dinner. The restaurant or room service?"

"Room service."

***  
Their meals arrived after Eggsy had checked to see what Merlin had packed for him for the weekend.

As they ate, Eggsy finally said, "Complicated."

"Do I as a fifty year old man want to come out of the closet to my seventy year old mother? No. Do I want my mother to meet you, to see how happy we make each other, to understand that I'm in love with a good man? Absolutely."

"Then however you need to do it. I can head off to the Kelvingrove, and you can text me where to meet up."

Merlin stared at him. "You don't think I'm a coward?"

"Why would I? I know things were different when you were my age."

"Yes. They were."

Eggsy kicked his shin under the table. "You're getting that, look."

"Which one's that?"

"The one you had when you told Mum you weren't that much older than she is. I've never thought I was too young for you. Why do you keep going around thinking you're too old for me?"

Merlin laughed so hard he had to push away from the table a bit. 

"What's so funny?"

Merlin took his hand. "You've taken all my stress and strife about the age difference and put it into a new perspective. Very few people can surprise me, _mo chridhe_ , but you always manage to."

Eggsy winked at him. "Bet I can surprise you later, too," he said looking at the bed.

"I think it will be my turn to surprise you."

***  
Even if Merlin hadn't stopped dead when they walked into the lobby of their Glasgow hotel, Eggsy would have known something was wrong. 

He quietly took Merlin's bag and umbrella from him and watched him bend down to kiss a woman not much taller than Roxy. He had a moment to marvel at genetics. Her eyes were much darker than Merlin's, but the nose and the set of the jaw were the same.

"Hamish, for a moment, I thought this young man was going to be introduced as one of yours from long ago. But it seems he's your aide?"

"Mam, I left the Marines when I was twenty. I don't have an aide. This is Gary Unwin. Eggsy, this is my mother."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. McKnight." She gave him a tightly focused once-over that left Eggsy in no doubt that she knew every single weapon he had on him, including the ones that were disguised.

Eggsy turned to Merlin, "Should I get us checked in?"

"Please, Eggsy." Merlin's brogue was a little thicker than usual. Eggsy wasn't sure whether to put it down to nerves or just to being back where he grew up. He went to the desk to give them a few minutes, and tipped the bellman to take their bags to the suite.

He handed Merlin one of the key cards, and Merlin nodded and took it. He'd started to head out of the lobby to get a cab, when he felt one of Merlin's hands on his shoulder.

"Join us for lunch?"

"You sure? I'm not certain I can remember to call you Hamish."

"Call me whatever you like, _mo chridhe_."

"'Course I'll have lunch with you."

***  
"What church were you brought up in, Gary?" They were having lunch at the hotel's bistro.

Eggsy smiled and said, "Never much went to church. Watched lessons and carols on telly at Christmas sometimes."

"And how do you know Hamish?"

"He helped trained me for my current position at the tailor's shop."

She looked closely at him in a gesture disconcertingly like Merlin's. "And my Hamish is good with the scissors is he?"

"Well, I've never seen him run with them."

Merlin chuckled quietly, and his mother said, "You seem young to be a tailor."

"Back in the old days, they'd take apprentices as young as sixteen, but I'm not a tailor. I'm a buyer for the shop."

She leaned back in her chair and eyed him appraisingly. "A buyer."

He followed her eye line to a gentleman entering the restaurant. He said, "I'll admit I'm not strong on the British wools. I work mostly in Turkey and Russia, but the shirting is a cotton broadcloth, probably Indian rather than Egyptian. The cut of the suit isn't London, but could either be local or the work of a Hong Kong shop. It's better than off the peg, but probably from precut pieces. Shoes are good, but not bespoke. Tie is silk."

Merlin chipped in with, "Definitely a local shop. I recognize the drape. But the wool is an excellent Harris Tweed."

They smiled complicitly for a moment, until they were aware of her stare.

She glared at her son. "I think I liked it better when I thought this one might be your bastard."

"Mam?"

"You can go, young Gary, Hamish and I have some things to discuss."

Eggsy smiled easily. "I'm all right here, 'fanks. Haven't finished lunch." He glanced at Merlin who nodded.

"Eggsy stays, Mam, whatever you have to say."

She looked between them, and finally asked her son, "Is this boy your…fancy man?"

Eggsy leaned into Merlin and asked sotto voce, "Did your mother just call me a rent boy?"

"Longer term arrangement, usually, but essentially." He turned to his mother and said quietly, "I'm homosexual, Mam. I have been all my life. Not once have a brought a woman to meet you -- so you don't get to say I ever pretended to you -- but I admit that I was afraid to come right out and say it. Eggsy's my partner. He's not a boy. He's a man, and one that I love more than I knew was possible." 

"I can't condone it. You're my son. I remember holding you when you were first born and being so proud. But please don't come back until you're over this foolishness."

"Mam. I'm fifty. I'm not going to change."

She glared at Eggsy. "And what do you have to say for yourself."

"I love your son."

"I'll thank you for lunch then, Hamish."

"It was lovely to see you, Mam."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. McKnight."

She shook her head and headed for the door. 

Eggsy met Merlin's eyes, "Wish I knew what to say, love."

"At least now I know. I'd always hoped telling her would be better than that, and I always feared it would be worse."

"Do you want to grab the bags and take our days off somewhere else?"

Merlin shook his head. "No. I want to show you the city I grew up in. Though, if you want to go back to London a day early…"

"We'll stay as long as you want. Because I want to know _everything_."

***  
Eggsy looked up from the game he'd been playing sitting on the steps to the apartment building. He saw Mrs. McKnight's eyes narrow, but he stood politely and offered to help her take her shopping in.

"Why are you here, Gary?"

"To tell you that you never have to see me again, but please don't cut your ties with M…Hamish."

"And where's himself?"

Eggsy said, "He went to church this morning. We're meeting up later for tea."

"Does he know you're here?" she asked.

"No, and if you haven't changed your mind when I leave, he won't know."

Mrs. McKnight stared at him. "I suppose it was simple for your mother?"

"No, but she loves me enough to accept Mer… Hamish as part of my life. Mind you, it could also do with the fact that my job keeps the roof over her head, but I do think it's 'cause she loves me."

She turned her back on him. "I wanted grandchildren."

Eggsy said, "You have three, and one great grandchild. Helped Merlin -- Hamish -- pick a gift when she was born."

"It's not the same. And your mam, doesn't she want grandchildren?"

"Never asked her, but she has a toddler in the house. Doubt it's a burning need for her."

"Toddler?"

Eggsy pulled out his wallet and a photo of Daisy. "Me younger sister. Now Daisy likes… Hamish a lot. Think I'm still her favorite, but it's a near run thing." He got his phone out and showed her another picture of Daisy, this one of her 'reading' to Merlin. 

She looked at it longingly, then shook her head. "No son of mine would choose to sin."

"Don't know what his beliefs are. I don't believe at all. But I know some things and I'm pretty sure that someone important in the Bible said, 'the greatest of these is love.' I love him. If it were legal, I'd have bought a ring and asked him. And I can't see him unhappy. So, I'm here asking. Don't cut off your son. Let him come visit you. Visit him when I'm out of town."

Mrs. McKnight said, "I can't."

"I won't say I understand, 'cause I don't and all, but I said what I came to." Eggsy opened the door and turned back to her. "We're having tea at the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall at two. The reservation's for three people. If you change your mind, join us. But I'm pretty sure that if you let him leave Glasgow without speaking to him again, it'll never heal." He walked through and shut the door quietly behind him.

***  
They'd decided to have a main course rather than the set afternoon tea, and Eggsy was trying something called an abroath smokie which as best he could tell was a lot like a kipper. He saw her coming toward them just before Merlin did.

"Hamish?"

Merlin jumped up and kissed her on the cheek. "Mam, how did you …?" He looked at Eggsy.

"Had to try."

The rest of the meal was a little strained, but they parted on good terms.

***  
Eggsy sat between Merlin's legs in the huge bathtub that came with their suite. He'd been beautifully fucked and just kept melting against his lover.

"Why did you do it?" Merlin said into his hair.

"See your Mum? Because you looked gutted when she left." He leaned his head back against Merlin's shoulder. "Had a hard time calling you Hamish. And I told her she'd never need to see me again after today."

"Eggsy."

"Fact is, I may die before she does. You'll need her, if it happens. Just like I'll need you to look after me Mum and Daisy."

There was a long silence before Merlin said, "There've been no premonitions? I'm Scots enough to take them seriously."

"No, just, I revised my will before the last mission to make certain things was right. And I heard 'bout what you said to Roxy before coming to get me when I'd been taken."

"So you're making certain I'm tied here?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you, _mo chridhe_. It means a great deal to me."

"Could tell." He kissed Merlin's cheek. "Let's go back to bed."

**Author's Note:**

> I grew up in the Church of Scotland and was more surprised than I should have been to read their current statements on marriage equality. It's still staunchly and starkly Calvinist.


End file.
